Analytics, Banks, Latvia, Real Estate, Society

Only 13% of respondents in the poll believe it is better to rent and a third of the polled people were undecided about the issue.

The main argument in favor of buying a home, voiced by 72% of respondents in the poll, was that the monthly mortgage payments are currently equal to or lower than the rent for the housing of the same size and quality. Also, 67% of respondents pointed out that putting money into real estate is a long-term investment.

Those respondents who believe that renting a home is better than buying said that they were not sure about their ability to take long-term financial commitments (53%), 37% said that the current housing prices did not match the quality of the homes, and 35% admitted difficulties finding an affordable home that would meet their expectations.

Swedbank’s data shows that local residents mostly buy apartments in Soviet-era standard design buildings in Riga as they are much cheaper than apartments of the same size in new residential projects and are usually situated in areas with developed infrastructure. The home buyers’ choices also reveal their actual capacity to borrow for buying homes – they usually take 16-year loans worth EUR 55,000 on average. The typical home buyers are people in their 30 earning EUR 1,000-1,500 a month.

OMD Snapshot conducted the poll for Swedbank in February, interviewing 706 residents of Latvia aged 18 to 74.